The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-08-04
rHE MODERN HERCULES.
,oa fall ard Some Of His Wonder
full Feats.
, Good. .Natured, Jovial Samson Who Had
ths strength of Eight Men-How He
Once Killed an English Bully
Who Challenged Him.

tn Once Killed an Englieh Bully
Who Challenged Him.
lust century ago several members
q d The Platt family, who then resided in
a pughkeepsie.s N. Y, formed q colony
q mich embraced the Baily and Ferris
L hmilies with others of their townsmen,
Il md located at the mouth of the Saranac
4 user in the northern wilderness of that
q Safe, giving to the settlement its pre-
q snt name OF Plattsburgh. The in
2 daence and comparative wealth in those
q dsys Of these first colonists induced a
large number of Quaker families in
9 Duchess County to change their homes
9 hr the heavily timbered and farming
lands Of Clinton County, then open to
I settlers, whose cabins soon extended
ever the towns of Plattsburgh, Peru
: and Ausable, between the Saranac and
! and the Ausable rivers on the western
shore Of Lake Champlain. Among those
d the early ''nineties" were the Reese
! and Arnold families, whose descendants
still own and occupy the choicest lands
IN that locality. There were two
brothers, Oliver and Richard Reese,
from whom the village of Keeseville, on
the Ausable river, was subsequently
named.
Upon the discovery of iron in 1906 a
new emigration set in from the towns
along the Hudson river. and from Ver-
mont and New Hampshire; and within
The following ten years iron operations
we're commenced on the Boquet,
Ausable and Saranac rivers. 1t was
during this period that Joseph Call,
then young man, first appeared in
that locality. and in 1916 he became a
lunlor partner in the firm then known
w the "Keeseville Rolling and Sitting
Mill Company" of which Oliver and
Richard Reese were also members. He
under the carpenter and blacksmith
Trades, and first exhibited his Herculean
powers in the construction of dams,
aw-mllls and manufactures on the
Ausable river. Many living to-day
Icmember him well, and his strength
was 50 great, it is said, that timber
Rqulrlng eight men to place in position
vas handled easily by Call alone. He
was IN no sense fighting man or even
ipugihst, but a plain, unpretentious
workman, who never realized his own
aperiority, but was always ready to
mgage in any friendly wrestle or test
usuength. His fame extended through
O0 New York and Vermont and over
me- @ Eastern portion of the Canadas.
ni'h his legs locked around a tree a
!oke OF oxen were unable to break his
,ola. In driving from Keeseville to
LEWIS IN winter he met a number of
s.n asms hauling ore over the dugway of
"hlsooro mountain leaving scarcely
n D0m to pass. The teamsters purposely
sOc1ed the way, and gathered about
y stranger in a threatening manner
:. - attempted to drive by. Stepping
y. S' Of his sleigh he simply, extended
y y hands between their legs, tossing
asm two at time. over their teams
INTO the ravine below.
Z r Walton, the Vermont historian
aaaer date of February 1, 1887, writes
alm as follows: among the cele-
3a'eo men have seen is Joe Call. It
sas ~ Anson's tavern in Essex, N. r.,
sa0as the year 1926. He was some
~. saa, above medium size, large with
sa;,. :; oelng excessively fat, compactly
a. .le as spry as cat, and of a jovial
sspoatlon. / saw him play a little in
:. .0saing, but of course with no one
sa0 could begin to match him. Of the
"s accounts of his prowess remem-
i only two-one was that a man
S.a ~ on horseback from distant
a.n e ! think it was Kentucky, to
na''enee doe to a trial of siren 9Th.
~. = found him in his bayfield, and
49, su ms business. whereupon Joe
nsyially seized him and threw him
-. sae ience. The other incident oc-
s..'.,. - e fattsburgh.. where Joe was
4. Sss.llng. He threw his opponent,
In .ell upon him with such force as to
~ !. sne unfortunate man.
ko-.s ~ = ecnger. Of Chicago. who came
0n Western New York. relates that
AM Ils occasion champion wrestler
~ y Joe's house and found no one
h,e s0ne but young sister. He in
~. a ner that he had come great
!" Wrestla with her brother, and